


Smoke

by shadowsong26



Series: Miscellaneous One Shots [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Crossposted from Dreamwidth, Gen, kind of reflective of bo and satine's relationship at least briefly, mostly a character study, references to background/backstory civil war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:46:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsong26/pseuds/shadowsong26
Summary: Bo-Katan at the end of the Clone Wars.
Series: Miscellaneous One Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066331
Kudos: 6





	Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to DW on 6/18/20, in response to a prompt meme; the prompt in question was "Smoke," with a request for Star Wars, preferably TCW-focused.
> 
> Note: in part due to the original date of publication and in part due to my personal thoughts/feelings on the subject, this fic does not take into account certain recent timeline revelations.

There’s something about the smell of smoke that resonates with Bo-Katan.

It doesn’t matter what kind of smoke--the sharp scent of ozone in the wake of blasterfire, meaning combat is on the way or already begun; the bitter scent of burning flesh, which means the fight is over; the gentle scent of woodsmoke, which means the rare times in between.

Whatever smoke she smells, it makes her feel _alive._

And, sure, some of that is adrenaline. Some of that is just…who she is. A Mandalorian warrior, leaning on the traditions her sister wanted to abandon, because they're _important._

But some of it, strangely enough, is _comfort._ There’s something reassuring about smoke in the air. Something that lets Bo know that she _is_ still alive. Even--maybe especially--if she has to fight for it.

Maybe, as with so many other things, it goes back to the civil war. She was sixteen when it started, and most of the time, she had only herself and her own skills to rely on; that, more than anything else, probably made her into the woman she is now.

She wonders, sometimes, what kind of woman Satine would have been if she hadn’t had her Jedi to rely on back then--she'd told Tano that she didn’t understand her sister’s idealism, and that’s true, for all she’d tried; but she _is_ pretty sure she at least knows where the gulf between them, that gap in understanding, really _started._ Like so many other things, for both of them. With the way they’d lived through Mandalore’s civil war. With how they’d survived the blood and the chaos…and the smoke.

…and maybe that’s the reason. Why the scent of smoke resonates with her, speaks to something so primal at her core, something so hard to put into words.

For Bo-Katan, smoke means _survival._

A call to arms.

A reminder that she’s still breathing.

Maybe that’s the same thing. She _is_ Mandalorian, after all.

So, at the end of that brief, shining moment, when Mandalore was _hers_ and the air was filled with woodsmoke and her people finally, _finally_ had a chance to rebuild--when the Imperial envoy comes to _her_ Sundari and explains the new order in the galaxy, demanding her submission…

Bo-Katan Kryze tastes the acidic smoke laced through every word; feels her heartbeat kick up a few notches; knows she cannot yield.

Instead, she smiles.

“No.”

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who follow _Precipice,_ I do genuinely plan to get the last chapter up this weekend. But I've also been toying with crossposting some miscellaneous one-shots (which don't fall into Precipice or any other specific AUs/stories I have going on) from Dreamwidth and/or tumblr. And because Bo-Katan is on my mind for Reasons, I figured this was a good place to start.
> 
> So, there'll be more little one-shots like this in the near future; probably linked in a series but not a single fic because there are some ficlets that need major warning tags and others that don't (also character tagging would get a little weird). Possibly I'll do one a day through the end of the year? I think I have enough for that...maybe skip whichever day I actually post the Precipice chapter, lol.
> 
> (Incidentally, while I don't think any of my other one-shots involve Bo-Katan, I adore her and I do have a couple upcoming projects that feature her heavily, so...yeah, keep an eye out for that.)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one! Thanks for stopping by! ~~~shadowsong <3


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